Sublime Porte

(The). The Ottoman empire. It is the French for
Porta Sublima, the “lofty gate.” Constantinople has twelve gates, and
near one of these gates is a building with a lofty gateway called
“Bab-i-humajun.” In this building resides the vizier, in the same are
the offices of all the chief ministers of state, and thence all the
imperial edicts are issued. The French phrase has been adopted, because
at one time French was the language of European diplomacy.